


Clues

by 100percentfluffster



Category: Leverage
Genre: Fluff, Team Dynamics, cuteness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-06
Updated: 2017-05-06
Packaged: 2018-10-28 16:10:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10834719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/100percentfluffster/pseuds/100percentfluffster
Summary: The Leverage team members worked together like no team had before. But Eliot and Parker meshed even better. Their ability to understand what the other's thinking had intimidated more than their marks. The team would have to be idiots to not see that as well.This is the story of Hardison, Sophie and Nate catching a quick clue each, that alludes to a deeper, intimate, connection between the hitter and the thief.





	Clues

Parker and Eliot never had a huge moment where everything came to a point. They didn’t have an impassioned speech while on the comms and they didn’t spend all moments of the day calling each other pet names and holding hands. They just weren’t...and then they _were_. The two of them themselves, wouldn’t be able to tell you when exactly it had happened, if asked directly. What they did know, is that they were happy. And that they were both private people. They had each other and they didn’t need much else, and they certainly didn’t need anyone else’s approval of their relationship.

The team knew that the two of them work together like no one else. They move in tandem, as if their thoughts are connected, or like they can feel the minute shifts in the air when one or the other moves. They think the same way, they fight the same way, and they’re both the best at what they do. Alone, they’re both intimidating if not out right scary, especially when it comes to Eliot. But when they get into that zone, when the only thing is them and the job, they become terrifying.

The point is, that they are good together. Great together. The other three members of the team just didn’t know how great. Hardison had long gotten over his infatuation with the young woman, and the hacker and the thief fell into a sibling like rapport. Sophie assumed that Parker wasn’t interested in relationships or men. Or women, for that matter. And Nate...the mastermind... just didn’t want to think about it. Didn’t care.

So they were all surprised when they caught on to the small things. The little clues in everyday actions, that pointed to the deeper intimacy between their two teammates.

____________________________________________________________________________________

**Hardison**

The team hadn’t had a job for a couple weeks now, but they still all showed up at the office for a few hours each day. Eliot would sit in the main area or in his office and read books on politics and history. Parker would climb through shafts, eat cereal and watch tv. Sophie and Nate would often disappear together and no questions were asked. Hardison himself was often planted in front of his multi-screen masterpiece, either following his own curiousities or researching for a job.

Hardison had been working for the better part of a couple hours, creating some new aliases for the team. The hacker didn’t understand how the team could burn through so many identities, in such small amounts of time. Sometimes he wished that they would at least try and conserve his genius.

Parker and Eliot had both been passing through the room a few times on their way to and from the kitchen. So when Hardison had gotten tired of staring at social security numbers and driver's licenses, he decided to find Parker and show her the new character he’d made for her. She was a climber and an adrenaline junkie, the closest fit he’d ever be able to make to her real personality.

So he saved his work and got up to look for her. He glanced at the kitchen before he walked towards the hallway where their offices were, walking straight to Parker’s. He wasn’t surprised when he saw her office empty. The only person who used their office less than her, being Sophie. The hacker then looked in some of her more common hiding spots. Like crammed onto the top of the washer and dryer in the laundry closet, or up on the roof. After a good fifteen minutes of searching he gave up and returned to his computer to track the gps in her shoes.

He raised an eyebrow when he saw the result and frowned, checking it for accuracy. When he was confident in his assessment, his eyes slowly drifted up from his screen and towards Eliot’s office. He couldn't see the door from where he was, but his eyes lock on the wall that he knows said door is behind. He gets up and walks by Eliot’s open door but doesn’t see the blond thief anywhere. He does so again a couple of times before he finally sees the bowl of slightly chocolatey milk, with a spoon haphazardly placed across the rim of it.

Hardison recognized the sign of Parker’s left over bowl from her cocoa puffs. Hardison froze where he stood when he saw it, and didn’t move again until Eliot cleared his throat loudly and glared at Hardison. The hacker returned to his spot in the main area, and thought about the presence of the used cereal bowl. He pulled up Parker’s data and isolated it far enough to see that: Yes, Parker’s signal was not moving, and was set in the vent in the wall above Eliot’s desk.

Parker was in Eliot’s office vent. Eliot had Parker’s bowl on his desk, a man whose office is normally pristine. Eliot knew Parker was in the vent in his office and allowed her to leave her used dishes on his desk.

The whole concept didn’t compute with his highly logical brain. Then a thought occurred to him and he grinned. He loped off to his own office, grabbed a screwdriver and a chair, and made quick work of the vent covering above his desk. His smile faded when he saw nothing there. No sign of Parker ever having been there. Or at least, not regularly.

Hardison replaced the cover and made trips to both Nate and Sophie’s offices. He found nothing to indicate Parker’s presence there either. So Hardison returned to his position in the living room, halfheartedly continuing his work. But his thoughts were elsewhere. Did Parker often visit Eliot’s office like that?

Hardison came in early the next morning, trying to get to the offices before anyone else. He opened the door and sighed in relief when there was no sign of the others. Hardison dropped his stuff off at his office and then darted into Eliot’s. He made quick work of the vent covering and pulled it off. The hacker blinked in surprise at what he found. Inside laid a small bedraggled pillow alongside a small panda plushie (It looked suspiciously like the one Eliot had been carrying around during that carnival job they’d done with the russians). There was a picture of the five of them, the Leverage team, taped to one side of the metal casing. A water bottle, a set of lockpicks, and a tablet were neatly lined up to one side.

Hardison slowly returned the covering, made sure he left no evidence of his snooping, and exited the office. His thoughts circulated around the thief and the hitter for the next several days. He eventually let it go, and he never dared ask them about it. There always was this connection between those two. He shouldn’t be surprised, really.

__________________________________________________________________________________

**Nate**

Nate and Parker were tasked with getting into the building and finding the server room. They walked in the front door and waited in line for the security check. Parker grumbled about how breaking in would have been faster but gives into Nate’s authority. So the mastermind and the thief waited in line to walk through the metal detectors.

Parker was obviously antsy, her feet shifting every few seconds and her eyes flicking around them. Nate gestured for her to go through first, when their time came. Parker rolled her eyes but stepped forward and dropped her lock picks, her phone, and a key into the bin on the conveyor belt, before she walked through the arched metal detector.

The key instantly caught Nate’s attention. Parker doesn’t have keys. She doesn’t use keys. She doesn’t _respect_ the use of keys. Nate followed quickly, dropping his own belongings into a bin, and stepping through. He managed to get a longer look at the key as Parker picked it up and slid it into an invisible pocket of her jacket.

It was a car key. A Dodge car key. Nate’s brow furrowed in thought: Parker didn’t have a car, none the less a Dodge. But Eliot did. Eliot was always raving about his Challenger. Now, Nate imagined, Eliot wouldn’t like Parker tinkering around with his precious vehicle, so it would make sense that he would give Parker a key. Especially since Parker had a habit of using or taking other people's things without asking.

This only brought more analyzation to Nate’s mind though. He wasn’t entirely surprised to realize that Eliot had given Parker a key. No, Eliot’s someone that gives you all of his trust, once he finds you worthy. It’s the fact that Parker _still had_ the key.

Park hates having anything on her person that is not critical. She needs to be light and fast. That’s practically written into the woman’s DNA. She’s a thief, she has to be small and fast, or she risks being caught. So the fact that Parker had kept the key, was holding it on her person even, and seemed almost reverent of it….that was a huge statement. About Eliot. About how much trust and respect Parker had for the burly man. Nate was quite sure if he himself had given the key to Parker, that she would have dropped it in the nearest trash can. Or thrown it off a bridge.

Nate filed the experience in his mind, to mull over later. If she had a key, what else had Eliot and Parker done for each other?

____________________________________________________________________________________

**Sophie**

It had been a long con and everyone was exhausted; especially Eliot and Parker, who had to run through a forest, after accidentally grabbing the attention of half the company’s security. Sophie chuckled to herself as she thought about the gruff but sincere words the two had exchanged during the chase.

Her eyes wandered over to the sofa where the three younger members of the team were lounging. Hardison typing madly away on his keyboard, undoubtedly sewing up the last few details of the con.

Sophie looked over to the other two to find Eliot reading a book with his arm thrown over the back of the couch. Parker, like usual, was plopped between the two men. She was sitting uncharacteristically stiff by Eliot’s arm. Sophie watched Parker’s eyes begin to close in an unintentional doze. Then the thief snapped back awake and her back was forced even straighter, though Sophie didn’t think it was possible.

Sophie watched the struggle play out a few more times, understanding in a sad way, that Parker didn’t feel safe enough to let go. The grifter was about ready to stand up and order the thief home to get some sleep, when she noticed Eliot’s eyes come up to the thief. Eliot watched the thief for a moment and Sophie was surprised by the softness in the man’s gaze. Eliot then slowly leant over and gently pushed Parker’s hair behind her ear, before he whispered something to her.

Sophie watched with interest as Parker’s body relaxed at Eliot’s first touch, though there was still an obvious tension in her shoulders. Eliot pulled back from her, and they stared at each other for a long moment, seemingly having a silent conversation. Eliot’s arm came down and his hand rested lightly on her back. Sophie felt her eyebrows raise at the action, knowing how Parker didn’t like touching, especially anywhere as vulnerable as her back. But Parker relaxed even further and allowed the older man to push her down into a laying position.

Parker rested her head in Eliot’s lap and stretched her legs out on the couch in the other direction. Her toes wriggled their way underneath the hacker’s thigh, and the man absently raised his leg to allow the thief to push her toes further into the warmth he provided.

Parker looked up at Eliot in mild concern, but he just whispered back to her and Parker nodded. Eliot then set his large hand on her small back, and rubbed abstract shapes into the tired muscles. Eliot watched and smirked slightly when Parker immediately fell asleep.

Sophie could feel how large her eyes were at that moment, and forced herself to blink and relax the muscles. She cleared her throat and sipped from the cup of tea forgotten in front of her.

The rest of the afternoon was spent pondering the extreme show of trust Parker had just showed in Eliot. The grifter didn’t miss the affectionate and warm glances Eliot would give Parker’s sleeping form. Sophie recognized all the signs of intimacy in their reactions. She was the best grifter to ever live, after all.

Sophie smiled and wandered away in search of Nate.

**Author's Note:**

> Love both Eliot/Parker, and Hardison/Parker/Eliot. But I've always been fascinated in the way the thief and hitter interact. They understand each other on a different level.


End file.
